Multimillion-Acre Tea Bag

Just as pouring the same cupful again and again through a tea strainer makes bitter tea, so irrigating again and again with return-flow water concentrates salts in the water supply. While damage to agriculture from salt contamination is a problem, it is less serious than the damage done to municipalities and industry. There are about 1,000,000 acres located in the Colorado River Basin where excess salinity is a problem, a situation further exacerbated by the U.S. treaty with Mexico that decrees salinity be kept below certain levels in water crossing the border. A proposed desalting plant and program will cost about $333,000,000. Now it appears that, at far lower cost, perhaps the same results can be achieved by better on-farm management of irrigation water. Here are some ways that can be done.